Film drier cabinet



March 2, 1943. A. w. BUCK FILM DRIER CABINET- Filed March 30, 1940 Patented Mar. 2, 1943 T o-EEicE FILM DRIER CABINET Arthur W. Buck, St. Louis, Mo., assigner to Buck X- Ograph Company, St.

tion of Missouri Louis, Mo., a corpora- Application March 30, 1940, Serial No. 327,019

`9 Claims. ii. 34-211) I This invention relates to improvements in drying cabinets or chambers and pertains particularly to an improved film drying device.

In the development of films andV particularly in connection with developing X-ray lms, there are provided drying cabinets in which the films are suspended and through which air is circulated, and such cabinets are provided with means for catching the drippings from the films as they dry, and since it is desirable that a free circulation of air be maintained between the films and also that the drippings from one group of films be prevented from running over another group, it has been necessary heretofore to provide single horizontally extending chambers within which to suspend the films. Because of this, drying cabinets of the type at present in use 'take up a considerable amount of valuable space in the laboratory which could be advantageously employed if the films could be suspended in a vertical group or series so as to make it possible to employ an upright instead' of a horizontal cabinet.

The present invention' has for its primary object to provide a vertical lm drying cabinet structureV wherein groups of films may be disposed one above the other or in vertically spaced relation and be exposed to the action of a free flowing current of air and at the same time shielded' or protected in such manner that the drippings from one group of films willV be caught and prevented from falling onto or coming in contact' with the lilms of an underlying group.

Another object of the invention is to provide a nlm drying cabinet wherein the nlm supporting Vdrawers or slides are disposed onev above the other each within a closedl chamber, in? the lower part of which chamber a means is provided for catching and retaining drippings 'from the film, thersaid chambers being so designed that air may be readily and freely circulated from one to the other, passing from the uppermost chamber downwardly through the lowermost chamber and then being returned for discharge into the atmosphere at the top'of the cabinet, thus avoiding the distributing of dust or chemical powder which may be upon the floor of the vlaboratory and the introduction of such dust or powder into the chambers where it might spoil or damage the films during the drying process.

The invention will be best understood from a consideration of the following detailed description taken in connection with the accompanying drawing forming part of this specification, with the understanding, however, that the invention the door openings.

is not to benconned to any strict conformity with the showing of the drawing but may be changed or modied so long as such changes; or modifications mark no material departure from the salient features of` the invention as expressed in the appended claims.

In the drawing:l

Fig. 1 is a View in frontV elevation ofI a twochamber vertical cabinet constructed in accordance with the present invention.

Fig. 2 is a view in sideeleva-tion of the saine, portions of the wall being, broken away.

v Fig. 3 is a sectional view-.on an enlarged scale on the line 3 3 of Fig. 2.

Referring now more particularly to the drawing, the drier cabinet as shown in the several figures includes a front wall I, side walls 2, a back Wall 3 and top and bottom walls 4 and 5, respectively. The front Wall in a two-chamber cabinet of the type here illustrated is provided with the two door openings 6', each of which is closed by a door and above the uppermost door, the wall is provided with an a-ir inlet 8.

The top wall 4 is provided with an air outlet 9 with which is'l connected a vhood I0 which may Ybe adjusted about a vertical axis for-deflecting the discharged air in adesired direction.

' At one side of the cabinet structure there is v)I :rovided the exhaust air conduit II by the proand forwardly, as indicated at I3, thus providing an air outletipassage or conduit which leads from the bottom'of'the cabinet to the top thereof and to the outlet 9. 'This Wall extends the '-full depth of the cabinet from the front wall to `'the rear wall, extending along one side edge of In spaced relation with the upper horizontally disposed part I3 of the air con- "duit wall I2 is a horizontal partition I 4 lwhich provides a motor and blower chamber I5 into which opens the air inlet 8. Upon the top of the partition I4, an electric motor I6 is located, which is operatively coupled through the medium of the driving connection I1 with the shaft I8 Aof a fan unit I9 for a blower 20. As shown in 'Fig. 2, this blower receives or takes in air from the chamber I5 and discharges it downwardly through the wall I4.

Beneath the Wall Ill is a deflecto-r wall 2| which extends from the conduit wall I 2 across the Vmajor portion of the area between this conduit wall and the opposite side wall 2 and extending downwardly and inwardly from this opposite side iiector strip directing the air downwardly andtoward the wall |2 of the air conduit.

Disposed at a level just below each of the door openings B is a horizontal wall 24 which extends through the full depth of the cabinet or from the front to the rear walls and which extends also from the inner wall I2 of the air conduit laterally or toward the opposite side wall 2, terminating short of this sidewall in theV upwardly directed lip 25. The top edge of the lip 25 of each of the walls 24 lies adjacent that vertical edge of the door opening which is remote from the wall |2, so that each wall 24 cooperates with the adjacent wall |2 and the iront and rear walls and 3 to form a drip pan 25. The lip or flanged portion 25 of each of the walls 24 is inclined toward the adjacent wall 2 and secured to this adjacent wall and extending inwardly and downwardly therefrom is an air deiiector ange 21 which is spaced from and substantially parallel with the adjacent lip 25 providing the narrow air passageway 28. It will thus be seen that the cabinet is divided by the walls 24 and 2| into the two vertically spaced compartments `28, each of which compartments is accessible through a door opening 6. The lower wall 24 is spaced from the bottom wail 5 of the cabinet forming the horizontal air conduit 25 which leads into the lower end of the conduit or passage the lower air passageway 28 leading directly into this lower conduit.

Extending inwardly from each door opening and 'disposed at the opposite sides of the door opening are guides of a suitable character, here indicated by the numeral 3D, on which may be sldably supported the drawers 3|.. These guides 30 are at the top of each door opening and thus when the drawers are filled with film supporting bar'or rods 32, such as are commonly employed in devices of this kind,'the iilms being shown in dotted outline and indicated by the numeral 33, the lms will be suspended from the drawers directly over a pan 26. From a consideration of Fig. 3, it will be readily seen that when air is driven downwardly through the opening 23, it will be deiiected toward the far side of the iirst or uppermost compartment 28 so as to pass down between the lms suspended in the-drawer 3| toward the drip basin or pan 26. It will nthen be deflected toward the iirst passage or ripening 2B through which it will pass downwardly being again deflected, this time by the flange 21, toward the side of the next lower compartment remote from the liange 21 and 'between the films suspended in the lower drawer V3|. The

'air will then pass out through the lowermost opening 28 into the horizontal conduit 29 to iiow into the vertical conduit I and leave the cabinet through the top hood covered opening 9. With this construction, it will be readily apparent that moisture which may drip from the films susnended in the upper chamber drawer will all be caught in the iirst pan 26, so that the films carried by the next lowerI drawer will not be injured in any manner by the moisture running off of the films lying above.

From the foregoing, it will be readily apparent that by theemploymen't of the construction herein disclosed, a viilin drying cabinet may be provided having any desired number of Vertically spaced or superimposed chambers within which the iilms may be suspended for drying without danger of the drippings from one group of iilm getting onto a lower group and thereby making it possible to take care of a larger number of films in a much smaller space in the laboratory than is possible with the horizontal types of driers at present in use.

What is claimed is:

l. A drier of the character described, comprising a casing having front, back, top and bottom, and side walls, means forming a chamber in the upper part of the casing having a bottom wall provided with a discharge opening, a power operated blowerrin said chamber having an air intake and arranged to discharge air downwardly through said bottom wall opening, means forming an air conduit vertically of the casing along one side wall thereof, means horizontally dividing the casing between said conduit and the opposite wall into upper and lower drying chambers, an outlet for the upper end of the conduit communicating with the atmosphere outside the casing, means for suspending articles to be dried within the last-mentioned chambers, and said dividing means being constructed and arranged to form drip pans under the suspended articles and to guide air downwardly through the casing only adjacent to said opposite wall to the under side of the lower chamber, the conduit being open adjacent the bottom of the lower` chamber to receive air from the said underside thereof.

2. A drier of the character described, comprising two chambers disposed one above the other, a bottom wall for each of said chambers having an air opening therethrough at one side of the chamber only, the wall opening of the upper ,chamber leading directly into the top of the lower chamber, each of said bottom walls having an upstanding flange along the edge of said opening, each bottom wall from said flangeto the .opposite side ofthe chamber forming a drip receiving pan, said bottom wall openings being disposed one above the other, means for tak-ing air from the outside of the upper one of said chambers and discharging it downwardly thereinto from the top thereof to pass through the bottom wall opening of the upper chamber into the lower chamber, an air receiving conduit beneath the lower one of the chambers and in communication with the opening of the bottom wall thereof,v an air conducting conduit leading upwardly along the sides of therchambers and discharging only to the atmosphere adjacent the top thereof andv having -its lower end in communication with the first conduit, and means for suspending articles Vin each of said chambers above that portion of the bottom wall of each chamber which constitutes the drip receiving pan.

3. A drier structure of the character described, comprising two chambers disposedone above the other, a bottom wall for each of said chambers having an air opening therethrough at one side of the chamberonly, the wall opening of the upper chamber leading directly into the top of the lower chamber, each of said bottom walls having an upstanding iiange along the edge of said opening, each bottom wall from said ange to the opposite side of the chamber forming a drip receiving pan, said bottom wall openings being disposed one directly above the other, means for taking air from the outside of the upper one oi said chambers and discharging it downwardly thereinto from the top thereof to pass through the bottom wall opening of the upper chamber into the lower chamber, an ail' receiving conduit beneath the lower one of the chambers and in communication with the operiing of the bottom wall thereof, an air conducting conduit leading upwardly along the sides of the chambers and discharging only to the atmosphere adjacent the top thereof and having its lower end in communication with the first conduit, means for suspending articles in each of said chambers above that portion of the bottom wall of each chamber which constitutes the drip receiving pan, means in the upper part of the upper one of the chambers for deflecting introduced air downwardly and laterally toward the said opposite side of the chamber, and a deector at one side of each of said bottom wall openings which is arranged to deflect air passing through the opening downwardly and laterally toward the said opposite side of the chamber.

4. A film drier, comprising at least two chambers arranged one above the other, a vertically extending air conduit disposed at one side of the chambers and having an inner vertical wall constituting one vertical side wall of the charnbers, a solid bottom wall for each of said chambers extending from the said side wall of the conduit toward the opposite side wall of the chamber and terminating short of said opposite side wall in an upwardly directed lip, an inclined delector secured to the said opposite side wall of the chambers in spaced relation with the adjacent bottom wall lip to form a downwardly and obliquely directed air passageway, the air passageway from the uppermost chamber leading directly into the top of the lower chamber, the said bottom wall of each air chamber from the lip thereof to the far side thereof constituting a drip pan, a conduit disposed beneath the lower chamber and in communication with said obliquely directed air passageway leading from the lower chamber and having communication with the lower end of the first conduit, each of said chambers having a covered door opening leading thereinto, means in the upper part of each chamber for suspending film above that part of the underlying bottom wall between the lip portion and the side thereof remote from the lip, and means for taking air from the outside of and discharging it downwardly into the upper chamber.

5. A lm drier structure, comprising a cabinet body, a vertically extending air conduit at one side of the body and discharging to the atmosphere at the top of the body, a horizontal wall in the upper part of the body constituting a iioor for a chamber, a motor operated blower within the said chamber discharging downwardly through said oor, an air inlet for said chamber by which air is supplied to the blower, said cabinet body beneath said chamber being horizontally divided to form at least two drier chambers, a pan-like floor for each of said drier chambers having one side in spaced relation with a side wall of the chamber, said iioors being disposed directly one above the other and the space between the pan-like floors and the adjacent chamber wall forming an air passageway, means in the upper part of the upper drier chamber for deflecting air introduced by said blower downwardly and laterally toward the side of the drier chamber remote from the air passageway in the lower part thereof, means adjacent each of said air passageways for deflecting air downwardly and laterally along paths substantially paralleling the path of flow of air entering the upper drier chamber, an air receiving means below the lower drier chamber into which opens the passagewayleading from the lower drier chamber, said receiving means being in communication with said conduit, a door giving access to each drier chambenand a iilm carrier insertible into the upper part of each drier chamber through the door` and arranged to suspend ilms in such chamber only above the pan forming the underlying bottom wall whereby drippings are prevented from passing through the air passageways.

6. A drier cabinet of the character described, comprising a chamber body having top, bottom and side walls, a covered door opening formed through one of said side walls, means for introducing objects into the chamber through said door opening and supporting such objects therein, a blower supported at the top of the chamber and having an air intake and an air discharge opening, said top wall having a downwardly directed air inlet opening through which air is discharged from the blower into the chamber, adeflector connected with a side wall at one side of and beneath the air inlet opening of thertop wall and arranged to deflect air downwardly obliquely across the chamber, the said bottom wall of the chamber being in the form of a pan extending from that side wall of the chamber toward which air is directed by the said deflector toward and having an upturned side terminating short of the opposite side wall, an air outlet through the bottom wall of the chamber below the air inlet of the top Wall, said object supporting means being located substantially at one side of the chamber within the path of air delected downwardly and obliquely by said deector. f

7. A drier structure of the character described, comprising a chamber body having-top, bottom and side walls, one of said side walls having a door covered opening therethrough, an object supporting frame unit insertible through said door opening horizontally into the chamber, said unit having one side in close proximity to a side wall and having the other side spaced from the opposite side wall, the bottom Wall being in the form of a pan extending from the second-mentioned side wall toward and having an upturned side terminating short of the said opposite side wall to lie directly below` said frame, the top and bottom Ywalls having airinlet and air outlet openings respectively disposed adjacent the said opposite side wall one directly above the other, an air deflector connected to and extending from the said opposite side wall at one side of the said air inlet opening and arranged to direct air passing through the opening obliquely across and downwardly in the chamber, means for discharging fresh air through said inlet opening, said object supporting frame unit being located substantially at one side of the chamber within the path of air directed obliquely across and downwardly through the chamber by said deilector.

8. A drier, comprising a chamber having top, bottom and side walls, means for supporting in the chamber material to be dried, an air inlet in the top of the chamber close to one side wall, said inlet including means for directing Vair flow downwardly and obliquely through the chamber toward the opposite side wail, afan for supplying air to said inlet, an air outlet for the chamber through the bottom Wall and directly kbeneath said inlet, and a `flange bordering the air outlet upon the side thereof remote from the Y said one Wall and extending at an upward inciination from said bottom toward the saidone wall, said material supporting means being located substantially at one side of the chamber and within the path of air directed downwardly 10V and obliquely through the chamber by said directing means.

vspace between the air inlet and outlet openings when material is supported in the chamber for drying.

ARTHUR W. BUCK. 

